Dead Men's Shoes

There is a great deal of crystalüzed wisdom in the proverbs of every aaI he accumulations of centuries of bbservation; but we tliink in few is Uiere more to be fouml Ihan in the brief gayingthat "it isillwaiting dead - .■■hoes." ..- few feet do those shoes fit! How few fect, after yeara of waiting, get the ! . anywayihow few over walk in ' theiü with ease nfter they do get them! and in half of the cases, by the time get them, with how many is ilie power of looomotion, to oarry out the ! parable, about lost! One is sometimes almost tempted to ;is]-. who ever gained anything by the expectation of a legacyP lLe young heir who awaits his father's death, and ïntlie rueantïme discounts the event with (lel)ts, would, it is tobo presumed, have been much bettor off by the time of his fathei-1 s death had he known frora bovhood that that death was not to enrich lihn by a penny. Every enei-gy he h;yl wouM thpn have been put forward e his aftairs, to secure liis fuirally to keep himself in condition to enjoy that fui-u-o, while toooftefi, in the otfaer case, the antioipation of a plenty not earned has hindered the exercise of any faculty of earning till even the power to earn is hampered, and the' habitof debthas demoralized. Of course it is not impossible that the heir in expectancy may have cherished every virtue daring the period of his wiiting; may have run up no iudebtedness; may have retained and useu every taculty and powei-; may be readyfor the benefaction if it comes, and can do without ft if it does not; but lic is to be considerad rat her remarkable and an exceptional case, on the whole, if he has done so, for the tendency of all the circumstanees is uot in his favor. And what if at last the expectant legatee ia disappointedP Who can describe the misery of such a situation, in the annihilation of hope, the bitterness of shame, and the ruin of every prospect? But if it is of such doubtful benefit to bc waiting for these "pilgrim shoon" when one is legitimately entitled to expeotation, what is it when one is simply dependent upon the goodgrace of the devisor, and may have and may not have the legacy which hope holds on to him over a gulf of nncertainty! i the hope is flatteripg, if the legacy i really a matter of importance, what a life does such a person load in the en deavor to jilease; to set a seal on tbc bargttin, as it were; to fasten, indeed an uncertain quantity into a fixed fact Hovv slavish here, how obsequioua there, how false, it may be, elsewliere, the person bas to bc! What humiliation is feit to-day at receiving the treatment due to a lackey! wh:-t unwise exaltation to-morrow at somo warmer expressioo of interest than usual ! what flat despon dency when, after all, it is seen that the exiiression of interest was but a holló w f orm of good manners! What degradation is there in all this to the character! ' Would there be any barder work for these waiters to do than this waiting? Will the monoy they hope to get be sufficient to salve the sore of their hurt prideP And will Sfe? aren jfiföpMiy," ëvër êoüritërbaiance the shame of "toadyism," the mortiflcation endured from ptirse-proud indiffcrence, and the wounds received without flinehing from the insolence of wealth? For what do they want these dead men's shoes, after all, but that thcy may step out in tliem to the "confusión of the neighbors," and the gratiiication ol every want? And will those ends attained repay one for the contempt of the neighbors vvho have seen the straits of their humiliatipn in efl'ecting the object, the seats bclow the salt they have to take, the gowns whose " joins" they do not dare to hide with tnmmings lest the "Generalin" - as in the case of Ma chore Mere - ponnee upon the failing and doek the future revenues? Meanwhile, to continue ouv catechism, s thore not a sort of unconscious barity in the reckoning of one's pleasures which are to como only through the loss of all pleasures to the one from whom the gaiii derives? Does it not harden the nature, and brew a drop of gall and bittcrness in the very milk of human kindness? does it not lower all the moral sense by imperceptible degrees, and stimulate BeljSshness into such unnatural growth that another's happiness and love of life and its pleasures are hidden from sight and mernory, and one is glad at length, andthen can not help being glad, of another's chief and last calamity, and that other ODe's benefactor? It is ill waiting for dead nien's shoes, indeed. If the patiënt waiter is no oser, to quote another proverb, yet something else is gained that had bettet )o dispensed with - some ignoblo q;ialty, somesordid soil. Some bloora, too, s rubbed from the spirit, if some wcigkt s added to the purse; one is less no)le, even if one has never sacrificed ïonor or proper pride and self-respect, or endurcd present humiliation for the ake of future reward, all on account, sirnply, of haVing waited. How much nobler is any poverty than any wealth o gained! How much nobler has the nature grown, at any given period, that ïas discardcd thought or hope of such yain, and has bent every endeavor to its ownfH development, and has made use of its own opportunities irresjiective of sxpectation or avaricicfus longing! how much freer and finer is the gait at which one's progress marches tlian can be een in those who walk the diflicult wav rodden in the waiting for dead mens hoes! - Earper's Batar. ---Y - Presbyterianism in New York ia epresented by the followiag ligures: Jonnocted with the Pi-esbytcry of New fork there are thirty-six churches with 7,030 conmunicants, and belonging o the Presbytery of Westchester, covring the annexed part of the city beonuthellarlem River, there are live jhui'ches with 646 comniunicants, makng a total for tlie city of New York of orty-one Presbyterian churches and 7,575 comniunicants. The total conributions of the Presbytery of New 'ork for the last ycar amounted to 818.Í97. - One of the most remarkable accients probably knovm to medical ccince occurred at Petersburg, Va., a few ays aafo. Whilegarelinglpra severe tttarrbal affection, Mrs. Anna Thomas wallowed tlie boni; of her nasa] o vhich in some way became detached nd slipped down herthroat. The bone, 'hich was over an inch in length, beame fast in the woman's esophagus, ansing violent pain. An eccentric Englishman has built a ïouse in Paris which is the talk of the ity. It is circular, has neither door lor window externally, and the ap;roach to it is from the ground o the roof by nieans of a lader, which is moved up and down by machinery. Ihere is only oue Hoor, but eighteen apartments look into thu center, which is lighted by a cupola.